Sharing, strong emotions, joys, madness, discoveries. But also vulnerability, challenge, questioning, creativity, open-mindedness. Connection, happiness… Friendship.
Essential to our well-being, friendship concerns us all: it crosses generations, time, cultures and distance. But even if everyone knows it, no two friendships are alike.
” – Anaïs Nin
When we travel, friendship seems to take on a whole new meaning. Because traveling is not just about landscapes and new experiences. No, traveling is also about encounters , shared moments. We experience fleeting friendships, intense connections. We share bits of the road with strangers. We lose sight of friends, have to mourn past ties. We meet up with simple acquaintances to experience incredible things together. We tell our life stories to a stranger drinking coffee at the next table.
When traveling, paths cross and separate. Friendships are born and built while others fade over time.We recreate bonds again and again, but we say goodbye just as often. There are times when our hearts are filled with all the bonds created. But there are also moments of emptiness, moments of questioning where we can ask ourselves what is the point of starting again if it is to separate again.
In fact, it is sometimes difficult. It is difficult to get attached knowing that time is running out , it is difficult to open up, to show our vulnerability. It is tiring to have to start over, to ask the same questions: where are you from, how long have you been traveling, what are your plans for the future? We need connections, contact, sharing, so we invest ourselves. Except that sometimes, this connection does not blossom and the connection is not created. It is frustrating.
And yet, it is also so easy. Easy to share things when you are at the end of the world, to express what you feel to these other travelers who are experiencing the same thing as us. Easy to understand each other, to share their joy and their wonder but also to understand the fears of others, their distress and their questions. It is thrilling to listen to each other’s stories, to feel vibrated by the experiences of others. When time is limited, it is easy to have fun, to enjoy. It is easy to live in the present.
It’s as if the journey underlines the passage of time . It underlines the fact that this special moment will no longer exist tomorrow. This tomorrow, moreover, so close and so far at the same time. And so, although sometimes bonds do not blossom, there are also connections that are created in an instant. And then, there are also those people who have remained semi-acquaintances but who are the only ones who have shared certain experiences with us, the only ones therefore who can understand them.
And how incredible! These connections are like little bubbles that seem to float in time. Fragile, ephemeral but also beautiful and light. Bubbles with rainbow halos that reflect the diversity of encounters and connections that can be made while traveling.
Because although travel unites us all a little, there is such diversity among travelers. And here, I am not talking about culture. No, diversity in travel goes far beyond cultural differences. I am talking about our life stories. I am talking about experiences, identities. I am talking about experiences. Because at the end of the world, it is not uncommon to make friends with people who are completely different from us in the way they lead their lives and view the world. We become close to people who seem so far away, or even opposite, to our friends back home.
So it doesn’t matter how much time we spent together; a few days, a month, a quarter, a year, or more… And it doesn’t matter if we are in touch every week, every semester, every birthday or even not at all. By sharing these little bits of travel with me, these people, from here and elsewhere, from before and now, have marked a part of my life . They have made it more beautiful. And sometimes, I hope that in a certain way, I too have brought a little happiness into theirs.
